Mt. Pilchuck Pearl
~ Mt. Baker Snoqualmie Nat'l Forest - Pilchuck summit winter view ~

Mt. Pilchuck Pearl © Ken James McLeod

We skipped the light fandango

Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor

I was feeling kind of seasick

But the crowd called out for more

The room was humming harder

As the ceiling flew away

When we called out for another drink

The waiter brought a tray...

-- opening lyrics above of the 1967 smash hit song "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum rang through my brain --

The beer from the night before had worn off and I was feeling better than I should, upon arriving at the trailhead and climbing up the impending mountain, I sat down and wrote "Pilchuck's Pearl"

Come climb me this wintery day ---

I hear the mountain say.

'Bove the forest, cross the snowfield to upper slope

Huff and puff, step after stomp, thus I lope,

Yonder horizon speaks with bluish-gray fractured peaks

Forested valleys resembling gardens planted in rows like leeks,

And meandering South Fork Stillaquamish River far below

Volcano Baker, Glacier Peak, and Rainier look ready and willing to blow.

Frozen icicles hanging from granitic (feldspar & quartz) rock

The Lookout "Pilchuck" perched atop the summit block,

Waves upon waves over Puget Sound which ferries ride

Olympic Mountains ponder glorious scene with majestic pride,

Now hoveled here at mountain top . . . counting hours by the lonely bide.....

KJM

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